Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES JOHN P. MANNY, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEM ENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,779, dated July 14,1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN -P. MANNY, of Rockford, in the county ofWinnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Harvesting-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure lrepresents a top plan of the may chine. Fig. 2 represents a sideelevation, With the several parts shown in black lines and also in adifferent position in red lines. Fig. 3 represents a section through aspring-drum,whicl1 is used for taking up a portion of the weight of thefinger-bar to prevent it from dragging too heavily onthe ground.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the several figures,denote like parts of the machine in all of them.

The nature of my invention relates to the manner of raising and loweringthe platform, so that in any and all of its positions it shall hold andmaintain its horizontality in front and rear.

To enable others skilled in the art to Vmake and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

To an axle, A, supported on wheels B B, are affixed, in such manner asthat the axle can freely turn in them, two boxes or'bearings C. To theseboxes are secured one end of the pieces D D, which unite at E, and aresupported at that point by a caster-wheel, F. So much of the frame ofthe machine as is supported upon the wheels B B and caster-wheel F maybe said toberigidornonat`ljustable;7 butto the lower rear parts of theboxes C are connected side pieces, G,the rear ends of which side piecesare permanently secured to the finger bar or or beam H, and transversebraces I I pass from corner to corner of this quadrangular frame tostrengthen the whole together, and thus the several pieces G, H, and lconstitute a frame which is also supported on the axle A, but which isadjustable in a manner to be hereinafter described.

A lever, J, is hung to the rigid frame D and extends to near the conductors seat K, so that the conductor can readily grasp or operate it.To this lever J is suspended the finger-bar H, by a suspension-rod, a,so that the conductor can raise or lower the platform at pleasure; butin raising and lowering this platform I desire it to retain always thesame horizontal position, or, in other words, to be raised or lowered inparallel lines, front and rear. This it would not do if the devices usedwere simply those above described. To effect this object I use alongsupporting-piece, L,which extends far under the platform, as shownA bydotted lines in Fig. 1. This supporting-piece L is hinged to the fingerbar or beam at b, and its end is also pivoted at c to one end of alever, M, which has its fulcra at d, and the other end of this lever Mis attached to an arm, e, that is fixed to the piece D of the rigidframe. The outer end of this lever L is fastened t o the outer portionofthe platform I?, and the front part of the platform P in turn ishinged to the bar H at the points h. The effect of this arrangement isto cause the supporting-piece L to depress the platform at its afterportion every time the finger-beam is raised by the lever J, theconnections between the rigid frame D and said supporting-pieceL actingas a compound lever to effect this purpose, and thus both the front andrear of the platform are kept in a horizontal position, While they areraised or lowered to any desired cuttin g-hei gh t. The red lines inFig. 2 show the position which the several parts assumewhen the platformis raised up, the platform itself still maintaining a plane parallel toits lower position as shown by the black lines in Fig. 2. Thefinger-beam extends under the rigid frame D about midway between thesupporting-wheels of said frame, and the beam H is supported by therigid frame, as heretofore described.

When these machines are used for mowing the platform and rakingapparatus are removed, and the cutter-bar is dropped on the groundk andmoves over it and in contact with it. It is desirable to cut grass lowdown, but

the dragging of the cutter-bar is detrimental. This is avoided as'follows: On a standard is arranged. a drum, f, having a coiled springwithin it, one end of which is fastened to the drum and the other to theaxis of the drum. A ratchet and pawl are also connected to thisspring-drum, so that the spring may he wound up and then held at anydesired strain by the rack and pawl. To this drum is connected a cord orchain, g, the other end being fastened to the lever J, and the amount ofstrain upon the spring in the drum regulates the liftingpower applied tothe lever J, and instead of allowing the cutter-bar to drag with itswhole weight over the ground, but still touch the ground, I take off somuch oi the dead Weight of the cutter-bar by tightening up the spring aswill just allow the said bar to touch the ground with a proper degree offriction to cut close, without, however, the heavy drag that the wholeweightof the cutter-bar would cause without such an arrangement.

N N are the hounds, hinged to the boxes C, and to these hounds thetongue O is connected. The red lines in Fig. 2 show the positions intowhich the several parte are thrown when the platform is raised up fromits position as shown in black lines to that shown in red lines.

JOHN P. MANN Y.

/Vitnesses:

J. G. MANLovE, HoBAR'r H. HATCH.

